Graffiti in Belfast. Most of the incidents recorded in the study took place online but most of the physical attacks were against women, especially those wearing distinctively Muslim clothing.
Photograph: Alamy

Muslims in Britain are becoming the target of hate crimes in retribution for terrorist attacks around the world, according to a new report based on the latest figures for anti-Muslim attacks.

The study by Teesside University found that children as young as 10 have been involved in hate-crime attacks and incidents, although most perpetrators were identified as being over 40.

The latest data for anti-Muslim incidents in Britain from the Tell Mama project reveals that there were noticeable spikes in the immediate aftermath of the high-profile terrorist attacks in Paris, Sydney, and Copenhagen in the past year.

The Tell Mama (Measuring anti-Muslim attacks) figures, which have previously been cited by the home secretary, Theresa May, show that there were 548 incidents reported from March 2014 to February 2015. These ranged from online abuse and threats, to street-based assaults and extreme violence.

The 548 incidents reported in 2014-15 compares with 734 cases reported to Tell Mama during 2013-14. The study’s authors, Prof Matthew Feldman and Dr Mark Littler, say that the reduction is most likely to be accounted for by the enormous spike in attacks on Muslims in the weeks following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby on 22 May 2013: “The overall number of reports is consistent with the picture presented in 2012-13, when 584 cases were reported.”

The study, by Teesside University’s centre for fascist, anti-fascist and post-fascist studies, says that fewer than half of the 548 recorded incidents were reported to the police by victims. Most of the incidents – 402 – took place online but most of the physical attacks were against women, and in a significant number of cases, the victim was wearing distinctively Muslim clothing. They included 21 cases of assault, 29 threats and 15 cases of damage to property.

The online attacks included anti-Muslim abuse and the dissemination of anti-Muslim literature.

The authors say the figures reveal spikes in incidents against British Muslims in the immediate aftermath of the three self-proclaimed jihadi Islamist atrocities in Sydney, Paris and Copenhagen.

In the seven days before the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris on 7 January, in which 12 people were killed, there were 12 incidents reported to Tell Mama, but there were 45 in the seven days that followed.

The pattern was similar in the Sydney hostage crisis in December and in Copenhagen in which two people were killed by a gunman outside the city’s Great Synagogue in February. There were 10 reported incidents against British Muslims in the seven days before Sydney and 12 reported in the week after. There were 18 incidents in the seven days before the Copenhagen attack, which rose to 30 in the following seven days.

The study suggests that more restrained media reporting of the Sydney hostage situation, in which the hostage taker, who claimed to be acting on behalf of Islamic State, was swiftly identified as having a background of mental illness, may have played a role in minimising the backlash against the Muslim community in Britain.

Feldman said “The analysis offers broad support for the theory of cumulative extremism, with the ratcheting up of violent activity between opposing groups, with an act of violence triggering a response that itself sparks further attacks.

Littler added: “Findings also suggest that where the media stress the Muslim background of attackers, and devote significant coverage to it, the violent response is likely to be greater than in cases where the motivation of the attackers are downplayed or rejected in favour of alternative explanations. The latter appears to be the case with the Sydney perpetrator, who was swiftly and repeatedly identified as mentally ill.”

Fiyaz Mughal, of Tell Mama, said: “From the work that we do with victims of anti-Muslim hate [crimes], it is clear that local, national and international incidents have real impacts on people’s lives here in the UK. In a globally connected world, it seems that hate is no different and that the actions by one group lead to counter-reactions and impacts on another set of communities in another country.”

The Tell Mama project, which was started in 2012, is considered the only authoritative source of data on the scale of attacks on Muslims in Britain. The home secretary has said she wants all police forces to record anti-Muslim hate crimes in an attempt to establish the full extent of Islamophobia in Britain.

The minister for countering extremism, Lord Ahmad, said: “The government is determined to defeat extremism in all its forms by continuing to work in partnership with communities to challenge the spread of hatred and intolerance.

“We deplore religious and racially motivated attacks and are committed to tackling hate crime. As part of this work we have committed to reviewing the legislation governing hate crime and will introduce a comprehensive package of measures to address those who stir up hatred against others.

“The police have recorded hate crime since 2011, and we are exploring how this data can be broken down further.”